Benchtop Drill Press Recommendations

[Julie Moriarty]

There's no room for a floor model and no money to buy one. I'm just looking for a decent drill press that has about an 8" throat depth, give or take. Something reliable and fairly well made that won't break the bank. Any suggestions?

[Mark Carlson]

Hi Julie,

I dont have a suggestion of what to get but I do have a suggestion on what to avoid. I have a Delta DP350 12in benchtop drill press thats heading for the curb real soon. I bought a 15in General 34-01 drill press that I was hoping would arrive somewhere between the 24th-30th. Still waiting. The Delta was a major disappointment. Its the version with the variable speed adjustment that stops working after awhile. The switch has been replaced twice and the pot metal pulley exploded and needed replacing. And the good news is parts are no longer available. Thanks delta. If you lived in CA I'd say come get it. It does work but the next thing that breaks it will be hard to fix so I'm not going to sell it. I'm going to see if I can donate it to Habitat for Humanity or Good will or something. Good luck with your search.

~mark

[Rich Riddle]

I like the Grizzly G7943. It's a heavy duty sort of drill press that fits on the bench. Had the Ryobi 121L but sold it rather quickly as it seemed more like a toy than a real tool.

[Stephen Cherry]

This is one where I would either go cheap, or spend some real money. The middle ground, from what I have seen, is not what it used to be. I have a Ryobi, and it will drill a hole, but as far as being a good machine goes, it's junk. But, as I said, it will drill a hole. I used to know someone who ran a fabrication shop, and he swore by Clausing.

In my shop, nothing drills a better hole than my pin router though.

Auctions?

[Greg R Bradley]

If your budget is around $350 including freight, I would second the recommendation for the Grizzly G7943. They also have a similar radial drill press about the same price is that is more flexible for other uses down the road. It has a bit smaller motor. The little 12" Delta and Jet are junk as mentioned. Below $300 gets you toy quality, drill press mostly in name only, and likely 2" spindle travel.

Other option is used. Don't forget you can cut down the column if you get a deal on a floor unit and it must go on a bench.

Drill presses in the sizes below 12" are either toys or high precision units at high prices.

[Jamie Buxton]

I had a Jet benchtop, a 17" I think. It was disappointing. The travel was short enough that it couldn't do stuff I wanted it to do. And worse than that, there was too much play in the quill --- it couldn't place a bit down precisely. I have the feeling that inexpensive but good drill presses don't exist.

[Mike Cozad]

To get the throat depth you're looking for it would seem you'd almost have to go radial (at least based on what I found when I was looking a while back). Grizz is having a sale and the G7945 5 speed radial benchtop drill press is on sale for ~$330 shipping and all. I'd be inclined to give it a go if I were still in the market for one...

[Charles Coolidge]

Whichever one you choose shove a block of wood under the table so it can't flex downward this will improve quality/accuracy.

[Phil Thien]

There's no room for a floor model and no money to buy one. I'm just looking for a decent drill press that has about an 8" throat depth, give or take. Something reliable and fairly well made that won't break the bank. Any suggestions?

Drill presses are rated for their ability to drill to the center of a board. So a drill press with 8" of throat would be able to drill to the center of a 16" board, making it a 16" drill press and not inexpensive (and typically not bench-top class either).

I know it is repeated here over and over, but I'd be watching Craigslist.

[Rich Engelhardt]

This is one where I would either go cheap, or spend some real money.I'll +1 that idea!
IMHO - any drill press is better than no drill press.

I have a cheap, limited power, heavy, limited spindle travel GMC bench top I paid a whopping $99.00 for.
My only real complaint is that it's extremely difficult to change speeds.

I just set it on a middle speed and make do.

Whatever the limitations of the drill press, it's worlds more accurate and useful to me than trying to drill by hand w/an electric drill.

[Julie Moriarty]

The drill press I have is a brand I've never even heard of. It's well over 30 years old and I'm sure it was really "affordable" when I bought it back then. But it drills 90 degrees to the surface as long as I have the table set right. That's a plus. But because it has so many limitations, I rarely use it. Now I really need something that woodworkers would consider a "real" drill press. I guess I'm afflicted. ;)

At least now I know a 12" drill press only has a 6" throat depth. Maybe Santa missed a stop...:rolleyes:

[johnny means]

Julie, you are looking at making what, for a lot of us, is a surprisingly difficult choice. The problem is that drill presses are surprisingly expensive. What seems like a pretty basic machine will cost close to a thousand dollars. I spent something like three years looking for one and ended up with an older used machine. I needed about 8" of depth, 6" of throw, and easy speed adjustment. I settled on one with a 7" throw for $400, which was a steal. Any way, what I learned in my search was that drill presses aren't like table saws and bandsaws. A $400 contractors saw will do anything a $4000 Sawstop will do, except stop the blade, of course. A $700 bandsaw will do 90% of what a 36" monster is called on to do. As others have said, the lower end drill presses seem like toys and can be next to useless. 2" forstner bit, no way. Need to drill through a 4x4, not a chance. Really, a floor standing DP takes up no more floor space than a benchtop model. Also, anything with an 8" throat is not going to be portable, you're not going to be taking it off the bench and tossing it in a cabinet when your not using it. You might want to at least look at a nice basic floor standing machine. The column can always be cut down if it absolutely had to be a benchtop.

[Brian Tymchak]

I bought the Jet JDP-12 with the mechanical variable speed 3-4 years ago. 1/3 hp. 3" spindle travel. I wanted basic drilling capability in a small footprint and it does that. Of course, I ended up putting it on a mobile base so the footprint argument was just a joke. Min RPM is about 510 and there have been times I've wanted a slower speed with bigger bits to better manage the heat build up. You really have to take your time pushing a 2" forstner through thick Ash or Oak. For a benchtop, I rate it OK not having anything to compare to. But when I get to the point were I'm doing more in the shop it will likely be on the upgrades list.

[Jamie Buxton]

Another issue with the benchtop drill press is the weight. That 17" Jet benchtop I owned weighed so much that I couldn't pick it up to put it on a bench. I didn't want to leave it on the bench -- that real estate is too valuable -- so it lived on a furniture dolly, and I kneeled on the floor to use it. That was pretty silly.

[Raymond Fries]

I had a 10" Ryobi that I used for years and it did everything I wanted it to do. I needed something bigger and now my brother is using it in his shop. It still is a nice smaller drill press.

[Lee Reep]

I have a Delta 12" benchtop DP that has served me well. Most drill presses have a lousy table for woodworking. I added a Woodpeckers woordworking drill press table a few years ago, and I highly recommend the addition of one. I bought one better suited to a large drill press, and I had to add blocks on the underside to get it up enough so the elevation crank would clear it. That unfortunately used up a bit of its already small vertical clearance. It works for 90% of what I need to drill.

There are a number of suppliers that make tables meant for the benchtop DP, so I'd highly recommend one. Perhaps some of the benchtop models come with tables better suited to woodworking - -I just have not studied the market. I am ready to get a floor standing DP for the larger capacity. But I'd probably keep the benchtop model, I own a Delta 10: benchtop bandsaw, and a 14" Powermatic. Why would you ever sell a power tool? :)

[Julie Moriarty]

Johnny, the main issue I'm having at the moment is getting to the middle of guitar bodies to hog out material and drill for screw holes and knurled inserts. I can't get there with the 4" throat depth of my drill press. Up to this point I have used it mostly for drilling hinge cups and occasionally for holes that have to be perpendicular to the plane. It really hasn't gotten much use over the years because of its limitations. And many times I have changed directions on a project or abandoned it because the drill press couldn't do a necessary job. I've been holding off on major purchases because I keep thinking we'll be moving soon and then I would set up a new shop and get those big ticket items I need then. So I was trying to get around spending a lot and just find something that I can get by with. And now that I've put this "logic" down in writing, I can see it's not very logical.

I suppose I could find some room in my already crowded workshop but I'm not so sure my SO will be on board with the cost. And I could really use a jointer too. And to think, only a couple of months ago I told myself I had all the tools I needed to do whatever I wanted. :rolleyes: Denial at its best.

[Stephen Cherry]

Sometimes the lightweight versoin of this machine pops up on ebay or auctions for pretty cheap. It can hog, drill holes, and cut out parts as well as anything, and better than most:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI18ZWaG1_c

[Guy Belleman]

All of the bench top drill presses I have used at the military base woodshops and other folks houses are not something I would buy, and only suffice when absolutely needed. I do have some General equipment that is well built, so I suspect their bench top drill press might be okay. I think I would always make room for a floor model and have two Deltas. I do see that there are many drill presses for sale on craigslist in your area, so you might to check that out for a "deal".

[Mark Wooden]

As said, good drill presses are pricey and IMO it's not worth the aggravation to buy an inexpensive machine.
Reconsider a floor model though, they don't take up much space and you can build a slightly lower than bench height cabinet from the base up for storage of bits etc.
Forget about getting a dedicated wooodworking table for it; for what you're doing , get an X/Y mill & drill table and mount a piece of MDF with a fence on it and you'll have a nice accurate drilling setup, not to mention if you get a few end mills you could mill out pickup recesses and such. I use one from Enco (the $189 model)- http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=500&PARTPG=INLMK3&PMITEM=201-2536 . Works great for woodworking and really souped up my drill press.

As far as the press itself, a lot of older American made machines are good buys- Walker/Turner, Buffalo, Powermatic, Delta, Atlas even some Craftsman machines. While some are just beat, others can be had for short money and be put right into service. I just got 2 20" Walker Turner production drill presses for less than $200. Between the two I'm putting together one great machine. Deals can be had.
You might want to watch the Vintage Machinery classified ads,drill presses come up frequently. Good Luck in your search

[Keith Outten]

I own a Delta bench top variable speed drill press. I've had it for several years, maybe I'm lucky but mine has been a pretty good machine. I can say that because I also own a Grizzly bench mill/drill that does all of the heavy duty work so I never use the little bench drill for jobs it was not designed to do. It does lightweight drilling tasks well and I really like the variable speed feature when I attach a flex shaft with a polishing wheel as it provides just the right RPM without having to deal with pulleys and belts.

If you want one drill press to do every job in your shop never buy a bench top machine or a lower quality free standing drill press. Better yet get yourself a mill/drill which is designed for vertical and those lateral loads Mark mentioned above. What amazes me is that many of the more expensive drill presses are more expensive than some very good mill/drills that have many times the capability of any home shop style drill press.
.

[glenn bradley]

This is one where I would either go cheap, or spend some real money.

I very much agree with this approach. It is hard to get a decent drill press for $1000 let alone less. If your use of the DP will be limited to craft-type work you should be OK. If you try to make a 1/3HP benchtop drill a series of 1-3/8" holes all afternoon, you'll probably kill it.

I know that some areas are not as good for used tool as others (my area is an 'old arn' desert) but, a used floor model could have the post cut and set on a bench. Since this takes more room than the normal floor model footprint, I am not sure of the space savings. Shop configuration makes all the difference so you know where you can sacrifice bench space versus floor space.

The Grizzly G7934 does win a number of the bake-offs. This could be due to it being basically a floor model with a shorter post.

[Tai Fu]

I'd go with the Grizzly G7943... (I hope you mean that... I can't find a G7934 at all). I have this drill press, but it's not made by Grizzly however I think it's made in the same Taiwanese factory. Mines say Rexon on it and they have two variants, a benchtop model (G7943) and a floor model (G7944). I love them because it's solid, never really done wrong at all (I've used the Safe T Planer, end mills, etc. on it as well, as well as using it as a lathe). Only thing I hate is the table due to a lack of through holes, making it hard to mount tables. If you need more throat than this you can always go with a G7948 which is a floor model (Rexon makes them too...) with 20 inch swing.

By the way G7943 and G7944 is basically the same machine, same head, table, and base. The only difference is the post and the gear...

But hey, if it isn't enough, you can always get one of these:

278241

[Jim Finn]

I agree with Rich Riddle. I also have the Grizzly 7943 and Like it. I have had it for six years now and have no problems with it. The reason I choose this drill press was because it will go slow enough to run six inch hole saws in it. (140 RPM) It is also good for using a pneumatic drum sanding mandrel at slow speed. Top speed is 3050 RPM.